No school for more than 4,400 students after power outage

Parents of nearly 4,400 students at Graves County Schools had to make a quick decision on what to do with their child Wednesday. School was canceled at about 5 a.m. after a power outage at Graves County High School. We now know that the power is restored and class is back on Thursday.

Mayfield Electric and Water, with the help of West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, pinpointed the problem Wednesday morning, and the two utilities don’t believe there will be another outage.

On the high school’s campus, the main power source also controls the internet and phone lines of all ten schools in the county. It left many parents wondering why some of the schools couldn’t open. Superintendent Kim Dublin says, without phones and internet, her main reason for the closure was safety. “To put our kids in the buildings we would have put them at risk, and it was going to be chaotic for all of our families that have middle school, high school, and elementary kids,” Dublin said.

Laura Marrs works at Graves County High School, but Wednesday she’s working on getting some sun. She says she didn’t know why it was canceled, but had no problem spending the day at the pool with her son, Denis. “I was so confused, because I knew it wasn’t snowing today,” Marrs said jokingly.

Since she works at the school and Denis is a student, their schedule is perfect. Because she works at a pool part-time, when there is no school she doesn’t worry about finding a sitter.

Not every parent has that option, though. Many parents in our area resorted to a sitter. Lisa Lamb owns Big Grannie’s Day Care in Mayfield. She raised four children of her own. Now, she takes care of more than 70 every day. “They know if they need me, that door is always open. They know that because that’s my job.”

Days like today are no different to her. She had an increase of about five kids, almost enough to call in an extra teacher. She knows that without her services, many parents couldn’t work.

Lamb says the fee for regular kids is $16 per day, and for first timers is $25. Mayfield Electric and Water will continue to do a permanent repair to the power source at Graves County High School that runs between the tennis court and the green house. Dublin is trying to get that work done on Sept. 19, so crews have a three-day weekend and students won’t miss anymore school.